Another Year Older

Another year has passed....not referring to the New Year but to my birthday.  I don't mind getting older really.  I look forward to what each year may bring. The hardest thing about getting older are the physical changes.  Why can't I look like I did when I was 24?  Why didn't I appreciate how I looked when I was 24? I am working on that though....that is why I am really hungry as I type this blog post :)

Enough on that....it was a good birthday this year.  I actually felt like I got to celebrate on 2 days.  Jason had to be out of town on my actual birthday so he treated Saturday as my birthday.  I started the day with a pedicure and then had a hair appointment. I then was able to go shopping at one of the malls here that I hadn't been able to explore yet.  I came home and then we all headed out for a dinner at the Pirate's House.  We had heard it was good and thought the boys would enjoy it. It was a neat place but I wouldn't say a favorite.  The "pirate" there that night wasn't the best at his role.  The boys seemed to enjoy it though and they were pretty interested in the tunnel that supposedly is a secret passage or something. 

(Looking down into the "entry" of the tunnel)

My parents were on their way back to FL from NC and came through to see me on my birthday.  It was a quick visit but it was nice to have them here.  Because they were here I was able to go have lunch with Caden at his new school (I cannot take Blake like I could at his old school). My mom is the best and made one of my favorite desserts....Dirt Cake.  Blake had gone with her to help her get groceries and picked out the crown you will see on me.  I do not like the picture but I had to post one of me in my crown :) He also chose the candles ( #1) and I got a heart balloon and 2 balloons with a soccer ball, baseball, and basketball on them:) 

It was a great birthday!

Tool Man

This kid is too funny!  He is one hard worker!! 

I do not remember what Jason was getting ready to work on but Blake was ready to help.  He ran inside to grab his Home Depot Apron and his tools. 

Cannon after Cannon after Cannon

When Jason was in GA before we got here he would send the boys postcards of places we could go visit after we moved.  They had looked forward to going to the "big" fort that they could climb on the walls and cannons.  I don't think they were disappointed!

The sidewalk that lead into the fort.....crossing over the moat.

This fort had so many cool tunnels!

I thought the next picture was cool.  The arches are just really neat.  I was impressed with the design. This is an area where there had been a fire and they didn't replace the floor so you can see the architecture better. (I know there is a better way to explain that but I cannot think of one right now:)

By this point is where I was getting ready to be done....I just thought "how many cannons must we climb on?" Well.....all of them of course!!!! 

Once again a cargo ship passed so we enjoyed watching that.....then it was off to climb on more cannons!

I can see my friend Jenny taking some beautiful pictures here!! I love the brick and arches.

I think all the cannon climbing tired him out.  Isn't he handsome :)  He was listening to the audio tour.

It was a great family day.  There was much more to see there but we ran out of time.  Next time I want to walk to the light house and do a little less cannon climbing:)

Tybee

More proof we are back in the Southern climate....warm one day and cold the next! The Day after New Years was beautiful but windy and cold!  We headed to Tybee Island to explore a little and show the boys the beach.  It is a little trek from our house but not bad.

Our plan for the day wasn't to spend a lot of time at the beach but we did stop to let the boys get out and look around. They really like it and Caden wants to go back!

Running under the pier! I thought this was a cool picture.

So he didn't want to smile but at least he agreed to take a picture with me.  I didn't even have to beg.  Blake wouldn't even get in the picture. 

Caden LOVES to collect things.  Some cool things and some strange things.  He has always enjoyed looking for shells and today wasn't any different.  In the very brief time we were on the beach he found a lot of shells that he thought were special in some way. 

Grilling on New Years

New Years Day this year we had our traditional black eyed peas and corn bread and I asked Jason to grill steaks.  While he grilled Blake decided he needed to grill so he pulled his out there next to daddy's.  Obvious we are back in the southern climates being able to grill on New Years Day and the boys are in short sleeves:)

Post Christmas Family Day

We made our first stop at Toys R Us and it ended up not being as bad as we thought...Thank God!  Then a quick lunch at Chick Fil A and off to a fort.  The boys are enjoying the forts around the area and Jason is loving teaching them all the history.  I know they don't get it totally yet but maybe they will acquire their daddy's interest in history.  Caden has asked many many times who were the "bad guys" and who were the "good guys" in the Civil War....hmmm.... well.....  I am glad Jason is here to answer those questions because my response may not be correct.  We have visited a lot of forts lately so I am not going to post pictures of the actual fort but just a few of my favorites from the day....

The boys (especially Blake) love to see the BIG Cargo ships that go on the river.  While at the fort one came by. I admit they are impressive and I enjoy seeing them too. This one wasn't stacked as tall as some.

There was a big open space so Caden was happy throwing his football.

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 will be our first Christmas while living in GA.  It was a different Christmas for us being that we didn't travel or have people travel to us.  In some ways it was nice in other ways.....well it was just different.  We made memories with just the 4 of us and spent a lot of time relaxing and recovering from the prior months chaos! 

Christmas Eve we were going to try and find a Christmas Eve service to go to but seeing as how we hadn't even visited any churches yet and we didn't plan very well....that didn't end up happening. Jason took Blake shopping for a gift for Caden and I took Caden shopping for a gift for Blake.  That is always fun to see what they pick out and if they are really thinking of what they would want or what the other one would want.  They did well this year and actually kept the gifts a secret from each other until that night when we let them open them. 

We did some baking .... cookies and a birthday cake for Jesus.  I didn't post any pictures of the cake because it looked pretty bad but it tasted fine and it's the thought. (I have too many friends who actually make cakes and they look awesome that I wasn't going to post my sad "attempt" ). 

Christmas day was another day of relaxing and staying in our PJ's :)  Santa and Mrs. Santa weren't very smart and stayed up way too late trying out the Wii (we had to do quality control to make sure it would work;).  So with Caden waking at 3 in the morning and not being able to go back to sleep until 4:30 I didn't get much sleep....then Blake woke us all up at 6:15!!  I really needed a nap!  We also learned a lesson in Remote Control trucks and cars....they don't always work.  As much as we wanted to avoid it we had to make a trip to Toys R Us the day after Christmas to appease one little guy who had 2 toys not work properly.  He was a very happy boy when he realized all he was able to get at Toys R Us after his returns.  We lucked out and the line really wasn't all that bad. 

I had too many pictures to post so I made a Christmas 2011 album on Shutterfly that you can view.

I hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

IT WORKED!!

I have put off changing the address because I was nervous of all my posts being gone.  Luckily the only thing lost are the blogs I followed....I can find those again=)

So I hate that there isn't a link on my old blog to this new one but this was the easiest way for me to change it.  I can send out the new address pretty easy anyway and it helps me know who was reading all the many exciting details of our lives (enter sarcasm).

So we couldn't be TN Whittaker's anymore (even though part of me will always call TN home now) and I didn't want to be location specific again (which is why we didn't become 3 Pits and a Peach..... get it....living in GA and I am the only girl in the family).  So since we seem to be "wandering" that is why we are now known as Whittaker Wanderings.  Enjoy!!